


Deviation of Make Believe

by aredolent



Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, bobby is soft for junhoe, bobby laughs at them, junhoe is kinda soft for bobby, junhoe tells bad jokes, with a bit of Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 09:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14258421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aredolent/pseuds/aredolent
Summary: In which Bobby has a free Saturday and Junhoe really needs to find a fake boyfriend to introduce to his mother.





	Deviation of Make Believe

Bobby had been in a lot of bizarre situations in his life. From being caught in his birthday suit while sneaking from the showers back to his dorm because he forgot his towel, to accidentally spilling an entire drink all over an older ahjumma’s blouse.

He’d even had to do a walk of shame and clean a whole set of windows at the local market once due to him somehow getting a can of paint in his possession. He’d been a bit tipsy so he thought it’d be fun to draw on himself, but his tipsy state made him tip over and spill the entire content of the paint can over the store’s windows. 

Feeling the shame and guilt, he had to go back the day after and apologize, making a deal with the owner so no police would have to be involved. 

However, no weird experience could’ve prepared Bobby for the tall, nervous guy standing in front of him right now. Eyes wide in anticipation and hope, lips pink and big, hanging open as he waited for Bobby’s response.

There was obvious gel worked up in his hair, random strands sticking up in various directions. Messy, yet oddly attractive. The top three buttons of his thin black shirt were unbuttoned and, when Bobby’s eyes lowered, he saw a pair of probably the wrongest size of pants hanging from the guy’s hips. They looked way too big for him, but Bobby was in no position to judge. His own pants were threatening to drop down to his ankles at any moment anyway. 

And the guy kind of made it work. 

“Please?” The handsome stranger pleaded, palms connected in front of Bobby’s face.

“I- uh…” Bobby lightly scratched his temple, an action of being put on the spot. 

“I’m so sorry, I really wouldn’t be standing here in front of you asking you to pretend to be my _boyfriend_ in front of _my mom_ if it wasn’t _absolutely necessary_. My anxiety line was crossed just by walking up to you.” Pretty eyes turned desperate as his eyebrows furrowed. “Trust me.”

Bobby kind of felt bad.

Today was his free day, so he was aiming on spending his Saturday in the park, relaxing in the sunlight, maybe writing some tunes for his own pleasure. Though, spending the day on a secret relationship quest with an attractive guy did sound a bit more compelling. 

“Uh… Sure, it’ll be fun.” Bobby turned around to put his notebook into his backpack, missing the cringe on the other boy’s face at the mention of fun. 

“Really?!” His plump lips hung open in surprise. “Awesome. Thank you so much, dude! Oh, also, my name’s Junhoe.”

Bobby took the hand the boy offered him. “I’m Bobby.” He said, smiling reassuringly. “So, how do we do this?”

Junhoe sat down on the soft grass in front of Bobby. They were in the shadow of a big tree in the park, the weather warm and sunny, people out on walks or riding their bikes, enjoying the fresh air. It seemed like a perfect day for Bobby to write down some lyrics and just rest his mind. 

As Junhoe got down on Bobby’s level, Bobby could see the sparkle in his eyes as he smiled excitedly. “So, my mom is coming in like twenty minutes,” Bobby’s eyes widened, “and we’re supposed to meet nearby. Do you have any plans for further in the evening too?”

“Twenty minutes? That’s like… now.” 

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s all very last minute.” Junhoe looked genuinely sorry and Bobby shook his head. 

“No, it’s fine. I agreed to it, didn’t I?” He assured, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. He looked up at the boy in front of him, squinting his eyes slightly from the bright sun. “Anyway, I’m free the entire day. All yours. Or… well, your mom’s.”

Junhoe’s cheeks turned a rosy shade at Bobby’s words, coughing in order to push it away. “That’s gross, can you not say that.” His eyebrows furrowed and Bobby choked up a laugh. “Anyway, so the plan is to go out for coffee with her and pray for it to go as well as possible. She’s only stopping by for a couple of hours because of her business trip.” 

“That sounds doable.” Bobby grinned, smile contagious to Junhoe. “So, Junhoe, how did you get yourself in this situation?”

Junhoe let out an exasperated sigh, expression falling. “Mom always asks a trillion questions about my love life and since she lives four hours away, it leaves me stuck with two hours long phone calls a few times a week which consist of her whining about me being 21 and single.” He took a short breath after the word vomit, “So, recently I got tired of it and decided to lie about having found someone.”

Bobby was nodding, eyebrows raised in amusement. 

“She just caught me off guard yesterday. Called in to ask what I was doing and I said I was spending the entire weekend with my boyfriend at my place because he was renovating. Then she announced she’ll be visiting today and I couldn’t suddenly tell her my boyfriend was out of town, right?” Junhoe slapped a hand across his own face. 

“Damn, you digged yourself into a hole, didn’t you?” Bobby chuckled, making Junhoe’s lips spread into a timid smile. 

He was pretty. Voice low and grumbly, frame big, lanky but still muscular. Yet his features and actions were soft and gentle, almost shy. A whole diamond in the rough. 

Bobby watched as the boy in front of him tried to fix his gel hair, making sure the pointy strands were right where he wanted them to be. Then he turned his head to look around for a short while. Nervous? Maybe. Or just bored? 

Then he started cracking his knuckles and that’s when Bobby spoke up. “Is your mom scary?”

Junhoe’s eyes met Bobby’s again as he let out a sudden laugh. “As scary as a baby bunny.”

Blades of grass seemed to grab Bobby’s attention so he picked one out and started wrapping it around his index finger. “Then why are you so nervous? I promise I’m gonna try to not embarrass you.”

“You can’t embarrass me, you don’t know anything about me.” Junhoe smirked, but his expression fell as he realized that’s not a good thing in this situation. “Oh, shit. You have to know a few major details. My name is Koo Junhoe, I was born March 31st, 1997, I love singing and dancing, I also do jiujitsu in my free time. I currently work in a music store and I live in an apartment near Hongdae. You always get me hotbars on my work breaks because that's when you get off from work, so you stop by. Where do you work, by the way?”

Bobby snickered at Junhoe’s sudden outburst of an online dating profile info. “I’m unemployed, actually. Still in school. I write songs and sometimes sell them to my friend who‘s good in the music industry and all, so that’s how I get by.” He grabbed the notebook from his open backpack and waved it in the air. “Sometimes I work at the cafe near my house, too.”

“Ah.” Junhoe’s mouth was hung open, he looked confused. Or maybe that was just his facial expression. “So are you younger than me?”

“No, I’m two years older than you.” Bobby simpered, crossing his ankles in front of himself as he flung the blade of grass in Junhoe’s direction. It fell on his thigh. 

“Good.” Junhoe picked it up and examined it. Then he reached for his phone to check the time. “We should get going, my mom should arrive in ten minutes.”

“Alright, let’s do this.” Both of the boys stood up, shaking off the leaves and grass that caught onto their bottoms. “I can’t believe I’m really about to pretend to be boyfriends with a complete stranger in front of his mom.”

“I can’t believe I found the guts to actually come and ask you to do that. I’ve been contemplating it for like forty minutes over there by that bench.” Junhoe pointed to a spot a few meters away from the path they were walking on. “Not in like a creepy way? Or anything.”

Bobby laughed. “Should I be flattered that you chose me?” He teased, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Junhoe dismissed his comment by pretending he didn’t hear. “Thank you so much for doing this, by the way.”

“No, yeah! It’ll be fun to tell my grandchildren.”

They walked to a cafe five minutes away from the park they were in. Once next to each other, Bobby noted how tall Junhoe was. Taller than him, and just oh so completely attractive in his own bad boy, sweet boy, silly boy type of way. 

He was both endearing and sweet, but also intimidating and sexy, which, if Bobby was being honest, he couldn’t complain about. If he had to choose an ideal fake boyfriend for two hours of his life, it could very well be Junhoe. 

“Uh, so, what does this _pretend-to-be_ relationship include? Or require?” Bobby’s eyes were set on the ground, watching his moving feet. 

Junhoe stuck his hands in his pockets. “Whatever you want it to. I mean, I won’t push you to do stuff. I’m happy that you’re even doing this so, yeah, whatever your limit is, it’s fine.”

“So we won’t have to make out in front of your mom to make believable boyfriends, right?” Bobby smirked, watching Junhoe’s cheeks get dark pink. 

“I wouldn’t make out with my _real_ boyfriend in front of my mom. Everyone in that scenario would walk out of it scarred.” Junhoe scrunched up his nose in disgust. 

Bobby snorted. “Point taken. If you need me to step up the game though, just like, signal me. Or something.”

“Okay, I will. This is the place.” Junhoe said once they were in front of the small, yet crowded, cafe. He opened the door for Bobby and they walked inside. “My mom’s sitting in that booth over there.”

Bobby couldn’t believe he was really about to meet a mother of a stranger whose boyfriend he was pretending to be. It was definitely topping on his weirdest moments list. 

If he fucked this up, at least he’d have a mirthful story to tell. But he did want it to go well.

Teeth repeatedly digging into his lower lip over and over again, hands fiddling with each other, Junhoe seemed pretty nervous. He stared at his mom for a few seconds before looking back at Bobby, lip caught between his teeth yet again. “God, I hope this doesn’t go to shit.”

“I’ll try not to fuck up.” Bobby straightened his back and pushed his curls away from his face, doing his best to look as likeable as possible. He was glad he decided to wear his fitted jeans and a normal, plain black shirt today. 

Junhoe’s mom seemed to have seen the two boys standing by the entrance as she stood up and waved them over.

Bobby could hear a very quiet but obvious whine in the back of Junhoe’s throat as they walked over to the table. “Hey, mom.”

“Hi, my baby.” She went straight for his cheeks, pinching them lightly and then wrapping her arms around her six feet tall son. Right after Junhoe, she turned to Bobby. “Hello sweetie, so nice to finally meet you. I’m Sookja.”

She pulled Bobby into a warm hug, sweet smell of strawberries wrapping around him. 

“Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Koo. I’m Jiwon, but you can call me Bobby.” Bobby smiled at the nervous look on Junhoe’s face, accepting his mother’s hug. 

They sat down opposite of her, both of their nerves slightly itchy. 

“I wish I could say I’ve heard a lot about you, but… Junhoe’s been really secretive about everything.” She smiled, eyes warm as she took a spoon to whirl her coffee. 

Bobby let out a grumbling laugh. “Really?” He looked at Junhoe teasingly, eyebrows raised. 

“I just wanted you to get to know him yourself. I wasn’t secretive.” He rolled his eyes, fingers fiddling with a hump of material on his pants below the table. 

“Okay, okay.” She smiled. “I’m sorry I dragged you boys out here so suddenly, you must’ve had other plans.” 

“No, it’s perfectly okay, Mrs. Koo. Junhoe wanted to hit up karaoke and grab some hotbars later, but a nice coffee with you is such a better alternative for once.” Bobby’s smile was all teeth, eyes disappearing from how hard he was grinning. He felt a light nudge of Junhoe’s thigh. 

“You are so lovely.” Mrs. Koo smiled warmly, like only mothers can, as she took a sip of her coffee. 

“He basically calls your son annoying and you say he’s lovely, mom.” Bobby gaped as Junhoe _pouted._ Pink lip pursed out, his small pointy nose making the sight that much more cunning. He didn’t realize he was staring until Junhoe’s pout turned into confusion as he waved his hand in front of Bobby’s face. 

Bobby quickly turned to face Junhoe’s mother again, who was eyeing both of them with slight entertainment evident in her eyes. 

The next hour went by fairly quickly, Bobby explaining his writing process, what inspires him and how he puts a song together. Junhoe whined that Bobby’s never showed him any of his songs, which wasn’t a lie. Mrs. Koo disagreed, saying an art piece should be presented only when it’s all done and ready. 

Mrs. Koo also told Bobby the classic embarrassing stories from Junhoe’s childhood, Junhoe protesting and somehow having a counterpoint to everything his mother said. It was fascinating to Bobby, really. 

But, the deeper they got into the subject, the more open and carefree Junhoe got, telling Bobby about his childhood puppy called Haku, and how a six year old Junhoe thought his pup would turn into a mystical dragon once he grew up. 

That never happened, but that’s okay, Junhoe said, because once he reached the age of eight, he didn’t believe dragons were real anymore. That’s when he started getting into dance, so he spent most of his childhood watching Michael Jackson and trying to nail his moves.

Which also led him to the story about the scar on the back of his head. He earned that while attempting to do moonwalk in his grandma’s backyard. It’d rained and it was slippery, so he fell and hit a flower pot. 

Bobby learned three things in those past 60 minutes. 

One, Junhoe’s laugh either gets really low and grumbly or really high in pitch. He also claps his hands twice, or three times if something is _really_ funny. His eyes form crescents and the corners of his lips curl up in the most charming way. He enjoys laughing at his mother’s jokes. 

Two, he loves his mother a lot. From the way he looks at her with so much admiration and respect, to the way he talks to her. He also loves everyone he’s involved with, family or just friends, he cherishes every person. He’s sweet and kind, even with the annoying whiny comments and puns he kept on spitting out of his mouth. 

Three, Bobby _might_ be enjoying this fake relationship situation a bit more than he’d expected to. 

After Junhoe finished telling them the story about why poetry helps people heal emotionally, he excused himself to go to the bathroom. As he was standing up, he grabbed Bobby’s shoulder and pointed his chin towards the door. 

Bobby got the hint, so he excused himself as well and followed Junhoe. 

As they entered the small compact bathroom, Junhoe grabbed the key and locked the door behind Bobby. “This is going freaking great!” He grabbed Bobby’s shoulders and pushed him against the door, whisper-yelling excitedly. 

Bobby’s eyes widened, a playful smile spilling over his lips. “I don’t know if being excited can cause you heart problems, but if it can you’re in danger.” 

Junhoe let go of his shoulders as he pushed his face right in front of Bobby’s, apparently never having heard of personal space. “I didn’t think we could pull it off. She loves you! You’re perfect!” He proceeded to aggressively whisper. 

“Thanks.”

“That’s not what I- I didn’t mean it like that, don’t let it get to your ego.”

“Why, are you gonna do jiujitsu on me?” Bobby crossed his arms on his chest, eyebrow raised. 

“Do you _want_ me to do jiujitsu _on_ you?” Junhoe mirrored Bobby’s pose, arms on his chest. Two could play this game. 

“Do you want your mom to think we’re doing jiujitsu in this bathroom since we went in together and you locked the door?” Bobby cackled quietly as he watched Junhoe’s expression go from smug to lightly panicked. 

“Oh, I didn’t even think you coming here after me might look like that.” Junhoe let out a nervous, high pitched laugh. His gums were showing and his nose scrunched up on the bridge. What a cute sight. 

“Maybe we should get back and get this over with before one of us fucks up.” Bobby suggested in a calm tone, nodded and then waited for Junhoe to agree. 

“Right, yeah. I don’t think we’ll be here for much longer, so you’re going to be free soon.” 

“Great.”

“Okay, cool.”

“Cool.”

They blankly stared at each other for three seconds at most, then suddenly nodded at the same time and exited the bathroom. 

When they got back to their table, however, Mrs. Koo had already taken care of the check and was packing her wallet and phone into her purse. 

“Mom, are you leaving already?” Junhoe sat down on his spot. 

She smiled once she saw them. “Oh, actually… They just called in to tell me my ride got cancelled until later in the evening, so I was thinking maybe we could go home and I can cook dinner for you boys.”

Bobby swore he felt his stomach drop to his heels. He quickly glanced at Junhoe who got dark red in his cheeks, mouth open in an “o”. He was obviously taken aback. Bobby could practically see the wheels turning in his head in order to think of an excuse. 

The moment of tense silence was apparently obvious to Mrs. Koo as she laughed embarrassedly. “Oh… Did you… have something else planned?”

Was that a suggestion in her voice? Bobby could almost feel the heat radiating off of Junhoe’s burning face. The tips of his ears were now red too and Bobby couldn’t resist the urge to pat the top of Junhoe’s head, threading his fingers through his hair. 

“What?! God, mom! No.” Hands flying to cup his own cheeks, Junhoe looked horrified. “We don’t have anything planned. Actually, I feel like Bobby mentioned something about going out with some friends tonight?”

If this was one of the usual circumstances, Bobby would’ve definitely caught on to what Junhoe was trying to do. But Bobby was really busy internally gushing over how warm and childlike Junhoe looked with his cheeks red, and the way his long slim fingers were gently trying to cool the blush away, and the way his lips frowned downwards in embarrassment. Therefore, things didn’t click in Bobby’s head in time. He confusedly shook his head. “No, I told you I have nothing today.”

A stump on his foot, and then Junhoe sent him a discreet glare. _Oh. Well, oops._

“That’s great, then! I can make you boys whatever you‘d like.” Mrs. Koo clapped her hands twice in a quick movement, and they all stood up. 

Inconveniently, Junhoe’s apartment was just around the corner so the walk was a minimal ten minutes, not giving either of the boys enough time to prepare for the long evening ahead of them. 

As they exited the cafe, Junhoe’s mother told them to go ahead as she made a quick phone call. They nodded, slowly starting to walk down the pavement. 

“I’m so sorry.” Junhoe whispered, leaning towards Bobby a bit to make sure he can hear him. “I really had no idea this would happen, I tried to save you but your ass ruined it.”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever told me my _ass_ ruined something. At least not in this context.” Bobby kept looking straight ahead, promptly sucking in his lips in order to hold back a smile. 

He felt a slap on his hand, Junhoe glaring at him in disbelief. His face was too expressive, almost like a cartoon character. “Oh my God, can you at least not say that so loudly? My mom’s right behind us.”

“Yeah, and I bet she saw you slapping my hand just now.” Bobby reached for Junhoe’s hand and intertwined their fingers together. “Don’t let her think we’re fighting, she might worry.”

Junhoe had always been good with strangers, he had no problem starting conversations or making friends and just having a great time. But Bobby was really getting the worst out of him, always managing to make him flustered, or at a loss for words. 

He was well aware of how attractive Bobby was, after all, he did spend all that time staring at him in the park in a completely non creepy way while deciding whether to do this or not. But what he wasn’t aware of, however, was how addicted he’d suddenly become to the way Bobby talked. The way his voice got so raspy when he said a joke in a high pitched voice. 

Or maybe the way Junhoe’s stomach speedraced to his ass whenever Bobby wiggled his eyebrows at him. Or how he got that split-second thought of wanting Bobby to bench press him when he saw his bicep flex as he stretched his arms. 

He definitely wasn’t aware of how shameless he’d be with staring at the boy talking to his mother. Had he caught himself doing that, he really would’ve stopped. But it wasn’t until Bobby looked away from his mother to playfully quirk an eyebrow up at him that Junhoe got smacked in the face with the embarrassment of the realization. 

And he definitely was not aware of how funny his face would look when Bobby grabbed his hand to hold it. All he knew was that his skin was burning, all the cells in his body possibly on fire. 

His hand must’ve been slippery from all the nerves he’d been destroying that day, but Bobby just squeezed it tighter for reassurance, causing Junhoe to look up at him, alarmed. 

“Ah, sorry. My hand is… sweaty because I can’t calm down my nerves.” He told the truth, leaving out the part where he was actually also queasy because of Bobby. 

“It’s fine.” Bobby looked ahead of himself, his thumb gently rubbing circles on Junhoe’s hand. He didn’t look like he was doing it intentionally, but something in Junhoe’s stomach still flipped. “I can stay until your mom leaves. It’s no problem, I’m having fun, anyway.”

“Do you like hotbars? Because you’ll have a year supply. Or if not, I swear I will make it up to you somehow.” Junhoe rambled on, trying to force his mind to stop circling about the thought of Bobby’s warm, soft hand holding his. 

“You can–“

“Oh, look at you!” Mrs. Koo’s voice startled them both, not having been aware of her being done with her phone call. “I feel like I’m intruding on a very personal moment.” Junhoe could swear he saw her eyes sparkle as she looked down at their connected hands. 

“It was. I was just talking about hotbars.” Junhoe said loudy, puffing out his chest in a proud manner. Bobby looked like he choked on his spit, apparently something in Junhoe’s response funny to him. 

Junhoe’s mother sighed, a warm smile playing on her lips. 

They came to Junhoe’s apartment soon after that, Junhoe hurrying to unlock the door and let Bobby in first in hopes of him managing to pick up on where each room was. He opened all of the doors except for the ones that lead to his room. Thankfully his place was small enough for Bobby to not be too suspicious and to be able to hide the fact that he’s never been there before. 

They took off their shoes and walked into the kitchen connected to the dining room area, Bobby dropping on one of the chairs by the table comfortably. Junhoe’s mother took a seat opposite of Bobby, leaving her purse on top of the table. 

“What do you want to drink?” Junhoe asked, jogging to the kitchen and automatically opening the cupboards. 

“The usual for me.” Bobby piped up from behind Junhoe and Junhoe slowly turned his head, sending Bobby a glare because _he didn’t know what the usual for Bobby was._

“Oh, honey, you can just sit and let me. What do you boys want to eat?” Mrs. Koo stood up in a quick motion and hastened into the kitchen. 

“Whatever works best for you, mom.” Junhoe shrugged towards Bobby and Bobby gave him supportive thumbs up. Maybe they could pull this thing off anyway. “I’ll go change, want a pair of sweats?” Junhoe whispered the second half of the sentence, pointing towards the door to his room. 

Bobby waved his hand in the _nah, I’m fine_ manner, so Junhoe nodded and walked away. 

Junhoe’s mother had just finished getting out all the ingredients she needed for the dinner she was about to make when Bobby decided to walk over. “I know you said you’d make it for us, but can I still help?”

The thankful smile she sent his way sort of melted his heart, he couldn’t lie. “Sure, you can grab the cutting board and chop an onion for me.”

Bobby nodded and immediately got to work, washing his hands first and then looking around for the wooden cutting board. 

After he finally found it while trying to look like he’d known where it was all along, Mrs. Koo spoke up again. “Bobby. I have to tell you, I was really pleasantly surprised. You seem like such a good person, and Junhoe seemed really excited today. He looks very happy.” Her hand gently pressed on top of Bobby’s back felt warm. 

Her words were so genuine Bobby almost spilled the entire truth about today’s events. Suddenly he felt a wave of guilt wash over him, hadn’t thought lying to a stranger’s mother could possibly keep him up at night. 

“I’m happy if he’s happy.” Was all he managed to squeeze out without building up more lies on the already obviously big one. 

Footsteps were heard from behind them as Junhoe basically stomped back into the dining room, the sound of slippers being half-dragged over the floor. “Hey, man.” He was on the phone. “Oh, no, yeah sure. I remember.” A pause. “Yeah.” A hand reaching for the cutting board, but being mildly slapped away by his mother. “Whatever, I don’t know, popcorn. See you.” 

He threw his phone on the table and sighed, Bobby turning around to look at him. He was in grey sweatpants and a plain white shirt, hair combed down onto his forehead. He looked much younger and much more innocent, but also much more attractive. It was something about the homey casual comfortable vibe that made Bobby’s eyes glue to him. 

“You’ll lose a finger.” Junhoe smirked, tilting his chin towards the knife in Bobby’s hand. 

“Who were you talking to?” Bobby ignored the comment as he looked back at the onion he was about to chop. He peeled off the top layer. 

“Yunhyeong, he’ll come over later.” 

“Cool.” Bobby shook his head backwards due to his curls continuously falling into his eyes. He didn’t want to ask any additional questions about this Yunhyeong guy until Junhoe’s mother was absent. 

“Can I help with anything?” Junhoe stood up again, not being able to watch Bobby struggle bent over the short kitchen counter trying to cut the onion. 

“You can help by not meddling!” Mrs. Koo laughed and Junhoe put up a childish frown, his nose scrunched up and his lips pursed out, making Bobby choke on laughter. 

Still, he walked over behind Bobby and towered over his shoulder, peeking at the badly cut onions on the board. “That is tragic.”

“I’m doing my best.” Bobby shook his shoulder in order to make Junhoe leave, and also in order to shake off the sudden chill that went down his spine when Junhoe put his head right next to his. “It’s all gonna go into the pan anyways, so.” He made a point, scratching at his eye that was itchy because of his hair constantly falling down. 

A second later, he gasped, dropping the knife onto the counter. “Ah, shit!” Yelling, he closed his eyes shut. “Fuck, I mean, I’m sorry for swearing!”

“What happened?” Junhoe grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, face worried. His mother also let go of the vegetables she was currently washing as she hurried over. 

“My eye is burning!” Bobby was still yelling, rubbing at his eye with his wrist. “I scratched it with the hand I was holding the onion.”

“Shh, okay, come on. Let’s go wash it out.” Junhoe put his hand on the small of Bobby’s back and loosely grabbed his arm with his other hand, leading Bobby towards the bathroom.

“Do you need me to come with you?” Sookja yelled after them as they walked away.

“It’s fine, I’ve got it.” Junhoe yelled back. 

He closed the door behind him, walking Bobby, who was now sure he was going blind, over to the sink and switching the water on. “Here.” He lead Bobby’s hand to the water and Bobby started frantically splashing his face, trying to get the sting to stop. 

“Fucking hell, that hurts.” Bobby whispered so Sookja doesn’t hear him swear again. “Fuck, I keep swearing, I’m sorry. I can’t control my tongue.”

“Almost lost your eye instead of a finger.” Junhoe joked to make Bobby relax a bit. “I’ll grab you a towel.”

He turned around to open the top white drawer when he heard a loud splash and Bobby yelling in surprise. “Ah! Are you fuc– Are you kidding me!?” 

Drenched in water, shirt sticking to him like second skin, droplets of water dripping from his hair down into a pool of liquid, Bobby was scrunching up his nose and furrowing his eyebrows as he did his best to stop the water from splashing right up at him, unhappy. “What kind of a fucking sink is this?”

“One that you apparently can’t use.” Junhoe was fighting the urge to start laughing, bending a pointer finger over his mouth as a distraction. “I’m surprised you know how to walk on your own.”

“Shut up. It’s not my fault your tap is stupid.” Bobby lightly pushed Junhoe’s shoulder. “You’re so annoying.”

Junhoe threw the towel he earlier reached for over Bobby’s face as Bobby started drying his hair. He whipped it forwards and started massaging, quietly groaning to himself. 

Junhoe stood still in front of him, taking an awkward pose. He wasn’t sure on what he should do, he’d never been good in sort of personal situations. He always wanted to keep distance between people, ironic because of what they’d been doing all day.

Should he say sorry? Comfort Bobby? Ask him if his eye is okay? 

“You should take your clothes off.” Of course that was what came out of his mouth, not having a brain-to-mouth filter. Or maybe a brain, period. “Your, uh… you’re all wet.”

Bobby whipped his hair back up to see Junhoe’s flushed cheeks, body leaning against the door. He smirked, and Junhoe’s eyes widened. “You’re so cocky. Fine, stay in your wet clothes then.”

“Are you gonna lend me your shirt?” Bobby asked, hanging the towel on the edge of the bathtub behind him. 

“No, I’m gonna let you walk out half naked, or wet, and have dinner with my mom.” Eyelids hooded, the sarcasm on Junhoe’s face couldn’t have been more obvious even if there were flashing led arrows pointing right at it. 

“Smartass. You were a lot less annoying a few hours ago. I’m starting to understand why you’re single.” Bobby poked Junhoe right in the chest and before the younger could retort, he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head, throwing it into the sink. 

Then they both stood still, Junhoe very obviously gloating at Bobby’s upper body, face going as red as ever. Obviously Bobby was well built, you could tell from taking just one look at him, but Junhoe could never have imagined the buff arms and ripped abs he was currently exposed to. There was the shortest pinge of anger because no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get those arm muscles, and Bobby was right in front of him looking like… that. No wonder he was so cocky. 

The anger passed as soon as it arrived, leaving Junhoe just gawking at the shirtless boy in awe, completely shameless in doing so. 

Bobby was kind of getting the slap of embarrassment yet again, not having known the way Junhoe’s looking at him now would make him feel so exposed and giddy. 

A few seconds had passed and they both cleared their throats, looking away at anything that wasn’t each other. 

“So uh, follow me into my room, I’ll give you a spare shirt.” Junhoe avoided all eye contact as he opened the bathroom door, both of them quickly walking past the kitchen. 

Though, they didn’t go unnoticed by Junhoe’s mother, who was stirring something in a huge bowl. “Oh my? What happened?”

Bobby quickly covered his body with his wet shirt, almost skipping towards Junhoe’s room.

“Accident with the sink, I’ll just go give him a shirt.” Junhoe fleed right behind Bobby. 

Bobby expect to walk into something that looked like the aftermath of a tornado, but he was actually pleasantly surprised at the nice atmosphere in Junhoe’s room. There were colorful, empty bottles of alcohol lined up on his windowsill, two candles lit up on his desk by the wall and his bed was neatly made, with one side uncovered. There was some clothes on the chair and a notebook with some crumbled up papers scattered over the work desk but other than that, everything seemed in its place. 

He carefully sat on the edge of Junhoe’s bed, as if scared Junhoe might start yelling for some reason. “What’s that you’re writing?” He looked towards the notebook. 

Junhoe went straight for his closet, opening the door and rummaging through his clothes. He couldn’t let Bobby be shirtless in front of him a second longer. “Oh… I just write down my thoughts sometimes. It’s not a diary, more like… poems? I guess.”

Bobby’s mouth formed an _o_. Poetry? He’d never met a single soul on this planet who was into poetry. He loved the idea of someone being into deep thoughts and writing things down in a beautiful way, just like he did in his songs. “Can I read a few?”

“Can you do that later, please. Here’s a shirt.” 

“Well, thanks.”

He picked up the grey fabric in front of him and then dragged it on. It was a bit oversized, a perfect fit. It smelled nice. 

“Is your eye okay now?” Junhoe asked, trying to push away the creeping smile caused by the sight of Bobby sniffing the shirt and unconsciously letting out a sigh of content. 

“Yeah, forgot all about it.” 

“I’m glad.”

“So…”

They stayed still yet again, and Bobby wondered why they were suddenly having so many awkward, motionless silences. He couldn’t tell if Junhoe was uncomfortable or trying to hold himself back from something. 

Junhoe, on the other hand, didn’t know how to sort out his thoughts. For some strange reason, he unexpectedly started feeling weird acting like Bobby was his boyfriend. He kind of wanted the pretending to be real, which basically cancelled each other out. 

The emotions he had were difficult to decipher, because he felt more for Bobby than just a stranger who jumped in on his play-pretend, ready to say goodbye to him right after it’s done. But he was still a stranger, and Junhoe was terrible at sorting out his own feelings and thoughts. 

“So what? I didn’t bring you to my apartment to stall inside my bathroom in order to talk to me in private. My mom’s waiting for us in the kitchen.” He shot out, his innocent and a tad panicked face making it obvious he didn’t mean any malice. 

Bobby put his arms up in surrender. “Wow, you see right through me, Dr. Koo.” He stood up and walked past Junhoe, exiting the bathroom. 

When they got back to the kitchen the food was almost ready, so they helped out and set up the table. When Bobby laid his eyes on the mashed potatoes and spinach, unnecessary to say he was more than ecstatic for not having to go home and eat a frozen pizza for dinner, again. 

They filled their plates and thanked Sookja for taking care of them, and then they all proceeded to comfortably eat while carrying on a conversation about everything and nothing. 

“Speaking of veggie soups, I have a joke!” Junhoe lifted up his pointer finger and suddenly yelled, making Bobby choke up on a spoonful. He didn’t really think of Junhoe as the guy who tells random jokes. 

“What do you call a can of soup that eats other cans of soup?” 

Bobby and Sookja shared a confused look, shrugging. Junhoe’s face expression only got more excited when they didn’t seem to know the answer. 

“A CANnibal!” He spread his arms wide and raised his eyebrows, grinning widely for a split second before exploding into loud, high pitched laughter as he clapped his hands and then hit the table to support himself. “That one’s so funny.”

Bobby had been right about one thing; Junhoe was not the guy who told good jokes. He wasn’t even sure you could call that a joke. But for some extraordinary reason he found himself laughing in a low rumbly tune, eyes glued to the way Junhoe’s mouth curled upwards when he laughed. The sound coming from Junhoe, so addicting and contagious made it impossible for him to not join the younger’s joy. 

It was also the fact that Junhoe seemed so sassy with his unfiltered comments and opinions, his zero worries about what people would think if he rolled his eyes or talked so loudly it caused him weird looks. To some he may be coming off as cold and rude, but Bobby could gamble his life on the contrary. No cold, rude guy would laugh so wholeheartedly to a stupid dad joke he told himself. 

He was so caught up in his own head that he didn’t notice Junhoe’s mother until a few moments later, when he finally looked away from the sparkly tears that formed in Junhoe’s eyes from how funny he thought his joke was. She was looking at Bobby in silence, smiling so lovingly and happily, a wave of comfort flushed over him. He realized he had been staring at her son, and he realized she saw him do it. 

“You suck at jokes.” Bobby spat out, but he looked down at his food with a big smile plastered over his entire face. 

“You laughed, so you can stop lying and suck my d–“ Junhoe shut his mouth before finishing the sentence, shooting a worried look towards his mother. “I’m sorry.” he declared quickly and bowed, jumping up from his chair and taking his plate to the sink. 

Mrs. Koo looked a bit taken aback, so she shook her head and took another bite of her food, making both Bobby and Junhoe’s cheeks burst into flames. 

Bobby had to be honest, he was expecting for a counter attack, but he wasn’t expecting for it to go in _that_ direction.

A few minutes of silence had passed and eventually everyone finished their food, Junhoe telling them to just leave the dishes in the sink, he’d wash them later. 

That’s when Sookja suggested watching some TV, so they all sat in front of the wide screen, Junhoe’s mother in a comfortable armchair and Bobby and Junhoe behind her on the couch, unable to be seen from her spot. 

Some kind of funny talk show was airing, which was apparently Sookja’s favorite, so they put the volume on loud and let her get absorbed in the funny jokes the host and whoever the famous person was were telling. 

Junhoe was getting into it too, he was, until Bobby nudged him. Then he wiggled in his spot to pull his phone out of his back pocket, unlocking it and entering his notes. He typed for a couple of seconds and then handed the phone over to Junhoe.

 _”What’s your WiFi pass?”_ it said, and Junhoe would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a pinch of disappointment in his stomach. 

He typed a response and handed the phone back to Bobby. 

_”YoureADickBobby, capital letters where I put them.”_

He side eyed to see Bobby’s reaction, and when the boy snorted, a smile unwillingly spread across his face. Bobby started typing again. 

_”Don’t you think you should be nice to me in this situation?”_

_”If you wanted to ruin this for me you would’ve done it hours ago.”_

_”Point. Can you give me your number now?”_

And Junhoe felt a pinch in his stomach again, only this time it was excitement. He took a few moments of typing away, making Bobby peek at what he was doing. He turned the screen away from Bobby’s sight, and then handed it back over when he was finally done. 

_”I saved it under M.”_

Not able to sustain his giggle, he put a hand over his mouth as he saw Bobby frown. Then the boy pressed the home button and went into his contacts, finding the letter M and then snapping his head towards Junhoe, staring at him with surprise evident in his wide eyes. “Mr Handsome Doctor?!” Bobby mouthed quietly and Junhoe had to grab Bobby’s arm to suppress his laughter. 

Bobby did his best to pretend the hand on his arm wasn’t affecting him as he went back to typing on his phone. Junhoe then felt something vibrate below his ass, momentarily confused, until he realized his own phone was buzzing. He reached for it and wasn’t surprised to see a text from an unknown number. He clicked. 

“Thanks.”

Typed a reply. “That was me returning the favor for today.”

“So you wanna say you gave me your number just because you thought it’d count as a returned favor?”

“It does count.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I still haven’t come up with anything.”

“Okay.”

“Also, I’ll stay until like ten minutes after your mom leaves. Just so we’re sure.”

Junhoe subconsciously frowned at the sudden change of topic. His fingers hovered over the screen for a few seconds trying to think of a response. However his mind came up blank, so he just clicked out of his texts and locked his phone. 

Bobby looked at him curiously, shrugging it off and finally deciding to start paying attention to the TV. 

It seemed like they were all finally settling down and getting absorbed into the world of humor, yet the two boys were still a trifle restless. Junhoe kept spreading out his legs and then pulling them back up onto the couch, and every time he did so he was somehow closer to the curly haired boy next to him. 

Bobby yawned and stretched out his arms, starting to feel sleep taking over him. He adjusted in his spot on the couch so he was leaning towards Junhoe more, his head starting to loll to the side and his eyelids getting droopier by the second. When he put his hands down, one of them may or may not have accidentally landed on Junhoe’s thigh, deciding to leave it there because it felt good. 

Ten minutes later, he felt a smack to the side, right to his temple as his head shot up, drowsiness leaving him in a split second. He looked to his left and saw Junhoe laughing at something someone said on the show, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Then Junhoe looked to his right and his face become apologetic. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Nope, just smacked the sleep out of me.” Rubbing at his temple, Bobby glared at the shoulder that was the culprit of his dull pain. 

“Oh my! It’s so late, boys, why didn’t you tell me!” Sookja suddenly jumped from the armchair she was sat on and ran to collect her belongings. “My ride will be here in five minutes!”

“Already?” Junhoe stood up right after her, Bobby feeling the sudden loss of heat next to him. Then he jumped to his feet as well. 

“Time truly does fly when you’re having fun!” Junhoe’s mother announced loudly as she put her shoes on. 

Bobby stood next to Junhoe, leaning on the taller boy’s shoulder with his own. Sookja’s phone rang and she groaned, digging into her purse to find it before picking up. 

Tuning out of her conversation, Bobby turned his head to face Junhoe, who was looking at his mom with a tiny smile playing on his lips. His side profile amazed Bobby, dark long eyelashes grazing the deep brown eyes, his lips plump and almost red, pursed out in a natural way because of their fullness. The bridge of his nose was perfectly curved and pointy at the tip, Bobby didn’t think he’d ever seen a cuter nose. His hair messy, flat at one part because of the way he half sat, half laid on the couch, his bangs sticking in all directions across his forehead. 

And his cheeks popped out because of the way he smiled, tinted light red. A feeling came over Bobby, he was overwhelmed, but the good kind. The kind where you feel warm and happy and sort of like you’re floating, the kind where you just want to plant a kiss on those blushed cheeks. 

So he did, without thinking. Putting his hand gently on Junhoe’s neck, he leaned over and pecked Junhoe right on a wrinkle that appeared whenever he smiled wide. 

Heat washed over him as he leaned back to where he was previously stood, hoping his face wouldn’t give out his sudden embarrassment. He stared wide eyed at the floor for a second, trying to wrap his head around whatever stupid thing he just did. He really just kissed his cheek right in front of his mother.

Junhoe looked just as taken aback, glancing to the side at Bobby as his cheeks got ever redder than before. 

That’s when Bobby realized Sookja had hung up a while ago, standing there and watching Bobby fuck up for the first time in the evening. She didn’t seem like she shared Bobby’s thoughts, though, as she walked to Junhoe.

“And I really did have fun today.” She disregarded the occurrence and continued her earlier thought. “It made me very happy seeing you so happy and carefree.” She pinched Junhoe’s cheeks and then kissed the left one, still cupping his face in her hands. 

“I’m very glad you visited, mom.” Junhoe smiled so childishly it caused little dimples to form at the ends of his mouth. Bobby felt his heart thump in his chest. 

“I hope to see you again soon, Bobby.” Sookja then said, walking up to Bobby. He was ready to catch her hand and kiss her like a gentleman, but she pulled him in into a hug, patting the back of his head and rubbing his back. “You’re such a nice boy.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Koo. I hope we meet again soon, too.” Bobby let out a coy titter, squeezing her petite body in the hug gently. 

She then walked to the door, giving Junhoe a long hug, whispering in his ear what Bobby thought was the normal mother-to-son pep talk. She then cleared her throat and said a bit louder, “And on top of that he is a very nice boy, so hold on to him!”

“Mom!” Junhoe whined at the lack of his mom’s suptility. She laughed and they said their goodbyes, waving to Bobby as she walked out the door. 

Junhoe turned the key to lock it and then slowly turned around, back plopping against the flat surface as he let out a deep, very loud sigh of relief. “Thank King in the North that’s over.”

Bobby stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “You’re such a dork.”

“Suck my ass.”

“Can you stop firing out all these weird requests unless you really mean them?”

 _”Anyway,_ thanks for doing this for me. I really would’ve been screwed if you’d said no. And I know how crazy of a request it was, especially since I was a total stranger.” Junhoe was enthusiastic. Had his palms pressed together in front of him, expressing his gratitude. 

“It was a really nice day, actually. I should be thanking you as well.” Bobby shrugged, taking a look at the clock on the wall behind Junhoe. 

It was almost nine in the evening, having spent no less than seven hours with the tall boy. 

He told Junhoe he’d wait for a couple of minutes and then leave so they wouldn’t risk Sookja seeing him, but standing there was making that a bit difficult. It felt too quick, the ten minutes seemed like seconds in Bobby’s head and there was still a handful of questions he wanted to ask Junhoe and even more conversations he wanted to go over with him. He wanted to take a long time to read through Junhoe’s poems, and maybe try to talk him into using them as lyrics in a song he was working on, which they could co-write.

And maybe some more time to ask if they could try to compose it, just so he could have an excuse to hear Junhoe sing. There were also dirty dishes still in the sink, which he wanted to wash, but definitely not just so he could stay there longer. 

Ten minutes definitely wasn’t long enough for him to do all that.

And Junhoe was stood there in front of his door, toes humorously playing with one of his slippers as he looked back at him, biting his lip nervously. He knew they didn’t specifically agree they’d have to show affection in front of his mom, but what he wasn’t sure of was whether or not Junhoe realized Bobby wasn’t trying to play the part when he kissed him. 

And if Junhoe did realize, Bobby didn’t know if he’d crossed the line or not. Maybe weirded him out. 

“So I should go.” Bobby waved his hand towards where Junhoe was stood, looking around in order to think where his things were. 

“Aren’t you gonna wait?” Junhoe asked, scratching his neck to look casual. 

“I’m sure she’s left already. I’ll be careful.” Bobby backtracked a bit, missing the way Junhoe’s face fell. He remembered his shirt was drying on top of Junhoe’s bed so he jogged through the door, grabbing it and quickly changing. Then he walked back out, collecting his backpack. 

Junhoe was still stood by his door, fiddling with his phone. 

“Uh,” Bobby piped up, Junhoe immediately dropping his hand with his phone downwards. “If it’s okay with you, I can text you. You can tell me if your mom says anything more about today.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” Junhoe was nodding fast, as if he was trying to air out his brain. 

“Okay,” Bobby put on his shoes. “Great.” He walked to the door.

Junhoe followed. “Cool.”

“Cool.” Bobby repeated, grabbing the doorknob while turning the key to unlock. He then opened the door. 

Junhoe felt like sweating, his mind going crazy with second thoughts and constant overthinking. Bobby was halfway out his door yet Junhoe was still having an inner debate on whether or not he should ask him to stay. 

What if Bobby was spicing up the lie for Junhoe’s mother? What other reason would there be for him to do what he did? But then again, what if Bobby did it because he _himself_ wanted to? Does he like Junhoe? But why would he like Junhoe? Was he messing around? Should Junhoe ask him out, or just stay quiet? Would Bobby say yes, or mock Junhoe by saying something in the lines of “You got too enthusiastic about this whole thing”?

His mind was going into overdrive, but the boy he started to like was walking into the staircase. 

“So, maybe I’ll also see you around, Junhoe?” Bobby asked, bringing him back into reality as Junhoe immediately stopped his annoying train of toxic thoughts and snapped. 

“Do you want to stay over?” He almost yelled, surprising Bobby at the volume of his booming voice. 

The curly boy halted, confusion over his face. Then he tilted his head to the side, “Ah, I’m sorry. I don’t think you’d be able to tolerate me for the whole night and the morning.”

It kicked Junhoe in the chest more than he thought it would, and it was enough for his confidence to crumble down. “No, yeah, that’s okay, hundred percent. I get it, it’s fine. Really.” He rambled quickly, not taking any breaks in between words. 

Bobby reached for his phone and typed for a few seconds. Then he lifted it up to show Junhoe the bright screen. “I’ll text you, though. We can hang out, tomorrow, maybe. Or on the weekends, however you want.” He smiled. “Maybe I can stop by at your store and bring you a hotbar.”

That made Junhoe laugh, endeared about the detail Bobby remembered. “You better keep your word then.” 

“I will.” Bobby stuck his phone back into his pocket, smiling. Then he nodded and turned around. “Bye then, see you.” He looked back and waved, Junhoe waving slowly as he watched the curls fall down Bobby’s forehead and bounce with every step he took down the stairs. 

Then he closed the door, walking to his couch and plopping right onto the spot Bobby sat on earlier. It was silent, and it gave him the opportunity to think about the day’s happenings. 

He really came up to a stranger and asked him to be his fake boyfriend so he could lie to his mom and get her to stop asking questions. Just so he could feel terrible at the end of the day because his mom didn’t deserve to be lied to and Bobby was able to perfectly crawl under his skin and make him like him so easily. And then he left, because he did what Junhoe pleaded him to do, he pretended, and when it was over, he left. He shouldn’t have been expecting more. It was a big lie anyway. 

But it still felt so pure and real, he got to know Bobby today, and it only made him want to get to know him even more. His life sucked, and definitely wasn’t working in his favor. 

His phone buzzed so he reached for it, two texts. 

_”I’m omw. See you in a bit, I got popcorn btw.”_ Yunhyeong had sent it fifteen minutes ago, Junhoe wondered how he didn’t see it earlier. 

His friend had called to let Junhoe know they were having a movie night at Junhoe’s place, which, apparently, Junhoe had no right to vote on. Yunhyeong was bored most of the time though, just like Junhoe himself, so he didn’t really mind the random hangouts. 

The second text. 

_“Dork”_ It was Bobby. 

_”What do you want, ass.”_ Junhoe typed back and threw his phone onto a pillow next to him, throwing his head back and groaning. He had dishes to wash and maybe clean up a bit before his friend arrived. 

After stretching for a bit to loosen up his muscles from sitting for too long earlier, he got up right when he heard the door ring. Maybe Yunhyeong would have to help clean up after all. 

That was fine, though, because it gave Junhoe a chance to rant for an hour and tell him everything that had happened. Maybe ask for advice on what to do, or ask for opinions on whether he should ask Bobby to hang out or wait a bit to not give off a clingy impression. 

He dragged his slippers slowly until he got to the door, opening it ready to start whining before he realized he wasn’t looking at Yunhyeong’s black shiny blob of hair and a smiley face with a bag of microwave popcorn in front of him.

It was Bobby’s warm curls and teethy smile. “Hey, uh. So about staying over at your place… I changed my mind.”

**Author's Note:**

> And then Yunhyeong regretted ever stopping by because he couldn’t handle it. 
> 
>  
> 
> I’ve been getting so many random au ideas in my head recently and I really want to write them all but it’s so hard for me to find the time! Maybe I’ll get to publish something else again soon!
> 
> Thank you for reading this if you did!  
> Comments and kudos would mean thee world to me they really make me happy :’) ok ill go i hope u all liked this!


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